Family Sticks Together
by thelonglostpotter
Summary: When Harry is left at Callum House Orphanage, aged 5, he starts to build his own family and eventually becomes a completely different Harry to the one they all expect to arrive. Meet Hal James, older brother, life saver, protector. Slytherin!Harry but may change, Manipulative!Dumbledore, eventual Guardian!Snape. (P.S. I'm really bad at summaries and 1st chapter is only intro!)
1. Chapter 1

**FAMILY STICKS TOGETHER: CHAPTER 1**

It all started one cool March night, when Harry's relatives left him standing on the doorstep of Callum House, Surrey's local orphanage.

He told the Matron there that his name was Harry James. Harry had never known his name; he'd always just been referred to as 'boy' or 'freak'. However, as luck had it, he'd been told to clear out the attic a week earlier and had discovered an old letter to his aunt from someone named Lily. Harry knew that his mother's name had been Lily so he'd read the letter, which told of how she'd just had a son and his name was Harry James. Harry knew he was in the same school year as Dudley but was younger, so Harry knew he was five. As Dudley was born in June, Harry knew that left only July or August for his birthday. This is all he could've told the Matron about himself.

As the Matron had been taking Harry to the 1980 ward, they passed through the 1981 section in which a young girl was screaming.

"Oh, not again," Harry remembered hearing Matron muttered before opening room 134 to reveal a small girl who was thrashing madly in her bed. Harry had followed the Matron into the room and, when he realised that she didn't seem to be able to help the girl, he got onto the bed and started trying to soothe her himself. Thankfully, he'd been more successful than the Matron and the girl's thrashing and screaming stopped, her breathing slowed to a regular rate and her teary eyes opened to reveal a set of big blue eyes.

"Hello, I'm Harry," he'd said softly.

"I'm Alexia," the girl whispered before a wave of new tears began streaming from her eyes. Harry hugged her tightly, and stroked her hair gently.

"Matron? Please may I stay here with Alexia tonight?" Harry asked.

One looked into his dazzling green eyes and the Matron had been sold. Of course it was against the rules, but no one had even been able to calm Alexia from one of her nightmares before. If this boy could help her, then who was she to take him away?

As the Matron slowly left the room, Harry continued to soothe his new friend. "Don't worry," he whispered. "It's over now. I'll protect you."

Ever since that night, Harry and Alexia had been inseparable and a few days later, Alexia had told him her story. She'd been three years old when she'd seen her parents murdered in their own hallway. It was late at night and her mother had put her down on the kitchen counter to open the door. The man had asked for her father but, once Alexia's mother had called for him, the man stabbed her right through her chest. She was dead within seconds. A then crying Alexia had to watch as her father came down the stairs and was shot in the head the second he entered the hallway. The man then pointed the gun at little Alexia and was about to shoot when a crashing sound came from the street and he quickly fled before getting caught. It had been a neighbour who had heard the gun shot and tripped over his bin on his way to find out. He'd seen the bodies and immediately called the police, not venturing close enough to hear Alexia's hysteric crying from the kitchen. She'd been stuck there for over an hour when she was finally discovered and, once they found out she had no other relatives, she was taken to Callum House.

That night is what haunted her nightmares. Harry had sworn to protect her his first night at the orphanage and, after hearing her story, he was dead set on keeping that promise and he always made sure she knew it.

For two years, it was just Harry and Alexia, or Hal and Ali as they'd come to nickname themselves. The two were quite a pair. Adults instantly fell in love with them what with Harry with his messy raven black hair and cheeky, bright green eyes and Alexia with her fair brown hair and big, dark blue eyes, yet, for some unknown reason, whenever one was taken to meet a couple looking to adopt they adults would always leave saying "What a perfect child! No, sorry, we don't want to adopt them." The adults at Callum House always wondered what it was, maybe the children expressed wishes not to leave the other which would convince the couples. They wished they could show the pair to couples looking for a boy and a girl but, unfortunately, there was a policy stating they could only do so with siblings.

Harry and Alexia never really paid much attention to the other children at Callum House, never even spoke to them, until the bullies began picking on them. Greg Mitchells, Archie Saunders and Morris Alton were their names. The boys stole their food at lunch, pushed them around in the playground and locked them in cupboards. One day however, Harry and Alexia saw them picking on someone else. A little girl couldn't have been older than four. The girl had light olive skin, dark brown hair and big brown eyes that were full of fear as she backed into the wall as the older boys towered over her. Harry and Alexia weren't completely sure what happened then but they both remembered shouting, "Leave her alone!" and feeling some sort of surge of energy leaving them and hitting the boys sending them flying into the wall. A the sound of the slumping bodies, the little girl opened her eyes and stared in shock and the sight of the three unconscious boys and the boy and the girl walking toward her.

"Are you ok?" Alexia had asked, concern shining in her blue eyes.

The little girl nodded, still slightly stunned at what had just happened. Not surprisingly, Harry and Alexia were too. Somehow they had blasted the bullies into the wall but they hadn't even lifted a finger.

"I'm Harry and this is Alexia," Harry said softly like he had the night he'd introduced himself to Ali. "What's your name?"

"I'm Cassidy," the little girl said as she wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

"Well, Cassidy," Harry said, "why don't you come with us and we can get you some water?"

And so it was that Cassie, as they'd come to nickname her, joined their little group. Cassie's story was a little less eventful than Hal or Ali's but it was sad all the same. She'd been left on the doorstep of Callum House as a newborn. It was a classic abandonment story; left in a basket wrapped in only a blanket with a note. "This is Cassidy, please look after her" was all it said. Cassie had been at Callum House for all her life except for one year when she was fostered however the couple had returned her after an odd incident when a window suddenly smashed while she was crying.

This made Harry think of his and Ali's own 'incident' with the bullies. Smashing them into the wall like that was almost like… Magic. It was then that Harry remembered all his aunt and uncle's rants about 'magic isn't real' and 'you're just a freak infected by freakishness'. This was when Harry started wondering if maybe, just maybe, magic could be real.

A year later, a terrible accident happened at Callum House. Three stupid boys, namely Greg Mitchells, Archie Saunders and Morris Alton, had tried to have a bonfire in the small garden in the orphanage's atrium. The fire had caught onto a drape of a living room that had blown out of a window and the fire had spread from there. It had been the middle of the night so the children had been asleep. Harry was one of the first to wake. He smelled the burning. He rushed out of his room and saw the fire rising up the stairwell. He quickly ran to Alexia's room, banging on all doors he passed and shouting, "Fire! Fire!" Needless to say, the orphanage was soon chaos.

"Ali?" he shook his friend awake. As soon as she woke, she saw the orange and red lights flickering from the hallways. She looked at Harry in fear.

"We've got to get Cassie!" she exclaimed, quickly grabbing a jumper like Harry had and running out into the halls, Harry only a second behind her.

They found their young friend standing in the hallway of the '83 section, her arms wrapped around her small body.

"Ali, Hal!" she cried as she saw them.

"Come on," Harry said urgently, "we have to get out of here."

Cassie and Alexia nodded and followed Harry as he led then down a flight of stairs. They were running back down Alexia's corridor in the '81 section when the fire started spreading towards them.

"Turn around!" Harry shouted. "Run!" But before Harry could follow them, he heard a scream from inside room 139.

"Help! Help!" a boy was shouting and banging on the door.

Harry panicked, "There's someone stuck in here!" He called to Alexia and Cassie as he noticed they'd stopped at the end of the corridor. "Get out of here! I'll meet you outside!"

Being only eight years old, Harry wasn't really sure what he could do but he couldn't leave this boy here to die, he had to try something. The fire was getting closer, catching onto drapes, setting more and more carpet ablaze. He faced the door and shouted, "Move away from the door!"

He'd been wondering about 'magic' for two months and had come to the conclusion that, yes, it did exist. He'd managed to move small items if he focused hard enough. Now, his question was, did everyone have magic? But this was a theory he would have to test later.

He lifted his arms and turned his palms towards the door and with all the energy he could muster up he pulled back his hands and as he pushed them forward he shouted, "Open!" It worked, kind of. The door didn't open but it did breakdown revealing a boy with curly dark brown hair and eyes that looked hazel. Harry looked around and saw the fire was about to reach him. "The window!" he shouted at the boy. "Open the window!"

"We can't jump!" he sobbed. "We're on the fifth floor!"

Harry walked into the room. "What's your name?" he asked the boy gently, crouching down to his height.

"Theodore," the boy sniffed.

"I'm Harry," he said, "and I know this sounds crazy but there is no where else for us to go! We have to jump."

That was all Harry could say because the fire had now spread into Theodore room and was coming towards the two boys, and fast.

"On three?" said Harry. "One, two, three!"

He grabbed Theodore by the waist and jumped, most likely to his death. Harry looked down and the ground and wished more than anything he could've said goodbye properly to Alexia and Cassie. He hoped they'd forgive him some day. He closed his eyes waiting to hit the ground. But it didn't happen. He opened them again. He and Theodore were floating half a meter above the ground.

"I don't want to die, I don't want to die." Theodore was muttered, holding tightly onto Harry.

"Theodore," Harry whispered. "Open your eyes."

Theodore's eyes snapped open.

"Argh!" he thrashed suddenly when he realised he was suspended in the air. As he let go of Harry he remained suspended in the air. Harry, however, fell and landed rather hard on his butt. That wasn't important now though.

"You can do it too!" Harry whispered, watching and Theodore slowly lowered to the ground. Before Theodore could figure out what Harry was on about, Alexia and Cassie suddenly appeared, running towards Harry.

"Hal!" Cassie exclaimed running and hugging him.

Alexia followed suit, "You're ok!"

Harry returned their hugs before pulling away and introducing the rather awkward Theodore.

Once they realised that Callum House would have to close and orphans would be distributed to other nearby orphanages, Harry, Alexia, Cassie and the newest member of their group, Theo (as he'd been dubbed due to Cassie thinking 'his name was too long') decided they'd try life on the streets. It seemed like an odd decision to make but Harry knew how lucky they'd been at Callum House and didn't want to risk being separated from his friends. Even though he'd only met Theo minutes before, he didn't want to leave the guy. He figured it had something to do with nearly dying together.

So that was that. The four of them took to the streets. They'd wandered alleys and roads searching for some sign of an abandoned area in which they could take shelter. Their prayers were answered when they found a rather run down apartment, which had a worn 'To Let' sign outside it. Theo was quick to pick the lock on the front door and they were in. They'd barely gotten a metre into the hall when a boy, somewhere around Alexia or Theo's age, jumped out holding a knife.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" he demanded, golden-brown eyes blazing.

Harry decided to step forward, ignoring the knife. "I'm Harry," he said. "This is Alexia, Cassidy and Theodore. We need a place to stay."

"Why?" the boy asked, raising the knife slightly towards Harry's face.

"Our orphanage burnt down, we have nowhere to go," said Harry.

"Luke?" came a sudden, very young voice from one of the rooms off the side.

"Stay where you are Kate!" the boy called before turning back to Harry's group. "How do I know we can trust you?"

"We have nothing," said Harry simply. "Cassidy is our youngest at age five and I'm the oldest at eight. What can we really do?"

This seemed to be enough for the boy. He lowered the knife and gestured them to follow him into the side room that the voice had come from. There were two mattresses in the room covered by very old blankets. Some crisp packets lay strewn on the floor as well as a fruit bar wrapper. On one mattress sat a little girl playing with a paper aeroplane.

"She's three," said the boy. "Kate say hello."

"Hi!" the little girl said brightly. Harry thought she looked like a miniature angel. She had very light blond hair and pale blue eyes.

"I'm Luke," the boy introduced himself. He had longish, messy dirty blond hair and golden-brown eyes. "You can stay as long as you like."

Eventually, Luke warmed up to the others. It turned out that Kate had been his parents' best friends' daughter. Both their parents had died in a car crash a few weeks previous and Luke, knowing that his only living relatives were drug addicts, had run from social services taking Kate with him. They'd also found out Theo's story. His mother had died in childbirth so he had been raised by his father who was a drunk and a drug addict who died from overdosing two months previous, leaving Theo with no other relatives.

In the months that followed, the six children grew very close. By December they were a family. Harry, being the oldest, was almost like a makeshift father and Alexia was the mother figure to them all. Except to Luke who was basically the same age as Alexia so he became more of a crazy uncle. Eventually they decided that they all needed proper names. They all wanted a surname. They finally chose 'James' as their surname as it was Harry's, though he wasn't sure if it was his real one or not.

Harry talked to them all about his 'magic' theories a few times. From the sounds of things they had all experiences these weird incidents. Harry decided to let it go as it seemed like it was just a normal occurrence.

They lived in that abandoned apartment for three years. They would've stayed longer but it only took three years for their world to be tipped upside down.

**Hello everyone! Thanks so much for reading, I hope you like it!**

**Please review to let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

** FAMILY STICKS TOGETHER: CHAPTER 2**

"Hello?" Harry called into the, seemingly, empty house. He threw down his heavy rucksack as he peeked into the living room. It was empty. "Hello?" he called again, a little bit louder this time. A muffled snicker echoed from somewhere upstairs. Harry let out a relieved sigh; they were all ok. "Well, it seems no one's home," he said loudly, another small laugh was heard followed by a few rather loud 'shhhh's. "I guess that means I can eat all the sweets all on my own."

This gave precisely the desired effect. "Harry, no!" came a little girl's cry almost immediately followed by three other voices. "Cassie!" they groaned.

Harry laughed, "Ok, you lot," he shouted. "Get down here already!"

This was followed by the sound of five pairs of feet thundering around on the second floor.

"I can't believe you gave us away, Cass!" he heard Theo moan as he reached the top of the stairs and came thundering down.

Harry picked his rucksack back up and headed into the kitchen. "Well I'm so sorry," came Cassie's sarcastic reply. "But he said he'd eat all the sweets!" and she too came running down the stairs.

"You know he was joking," Theo rolled his eyes as he took a seat at the kitchen counter.

"Well, what if he wasn't?" Cassie retorted, shoving him off the seat and taking it herself. "My seat." She stated as she entered a glaring match with Theo who was now picking himself off the floor and rubbing his rather sore butt. Harry smirked, they all knew by now that Cassie was rather strong, especially for a seven (nearly eight, she always chimed in) year old.

"Would you two give it a rest?" Ali joined them, swatting the two on their heads. "Anyway, this is Hal we're talking about, he's too clever to be fooled by us any day."

"Too right you are," said Harry. "As always Ali."

At that moment, Luke finally made an appearance, complete with Kate clinging to his back.

"Harry!" she squealed as she caught sight of him. She immediately released Luke from her hold in favour of jumping into Harry's waiting arms.

"Hey Katie cat!" he swung the little girl around a few times before giving her a tight hug and a kiss on her head.

Harry smiled as he looked over them all. Theo and Cassie were still throwing quick glares at each other, Kate was chatting animatedly about their morning 'adventure', Ali was trying to fix Luke's hair, Luke was busy trying to swat Ali off but Harry was certain that, had she been trying to fix Harry's hair instead, the blond boy would be rather busy laughing at all their antics. This was Harry's family.

"Ok guys, everybody calm down a bit," he finally tried getting their attention. "Didn't I mention sweets?" That did the trick.

Cassie started jumping up and down on her chair, soon caught mid air by Luke to prevent her from hurting herself. While Harry was trying to concentrate on not dropping the now bouncing Kate, Theo tried sneaking around him to reach the rucksack only to get caught and once again get swatted on the head by an amused Ali.

"Oi! What was that for?" he grumbled, rubbing his abused head.

"That," said Ali, "was for trying to be a smart alleck."

They all laughed at Theo's expense. Harry lowered Kate to the floor and pulled off his rucksack.

"So what's today haul, Hal?" Luke asked, gathering everyone around the table to see what Harry had brought home.

"Ok, crew," Harry said, emptying out the contents, "I know it's not too much…"

They all looked at Harry incredulously then looked back to the table. "Hal this is one of your best hauls!" Luke said.

"Maybe," Harry muttered, still slightly disappointed in himself, "but it's Cassie's birthday next week. I wanted to make it extra special."

Cassie launched herself at Harry, wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. "It's perfect Hal! Look! You even found PomBears!" she squealed immediately reaching for the red crisp packets.

"No, no, no!" said Harry grabbing the packet from her strong clutches. "For your birthday little miss."

Ignoring her protests of, "Aw Harry!" he quickly picked up the special snacks and locked them in the top cupboard.

The rest of them soon distracted themselves by checking out the rest of Harry's haul. He'd somehow managed to swipe fresh apples from the market, a rarity and delicacy to the children. They didn't know how Harry did it but somehow, every other day or so, he went out early in the morning to try to nick some food from the local stores and markets and always came back with a bulging rucksack and nobody on his trail. Ali remembered him trying to teach her once but she'd ended up running like a wild goose from some store owner who'd seen her, luckily giving Harry a perfect distraction to grab enough to last them a week. Ali always grumbled about the incident, she wasn't too keen on not being able to do something.

While the others were looking at the new food, Kate had come up to Harry as he shoved the last of the special stuff in the top cupboard. She tugged at his jumper, "Sweeties, Hal?" she asked, looking up at him with her big, pale blue eyes. But Harry knew better than to be fooled by his angel's look of innocence. He picked her up and playfully prodded her tummy.

"But Kit," he playfully whined, using one of her many nicknames to soften her up. "I wanted to save them all for Cassie's big day!" Seeing her little pout, he pulled her closer and whispered in her ear, "If you're lucky I may have a special something for you too, but I can't give it to you now or everyone else will be jealous."

Kate's eyes went even wider as she hugged Harry tightly. Harry walked back to the table and sat the little girl down on a chair, a big smile now obvious on her face.

"Ok," said Harry, "who's up for some lunch?"

Harry rubbed his bleary eyes as he sat up slowing. A glance at the light peeking past the, rather terrible, makeshift curtain told him it was probably around six in the morning. Deciding he couldn't go back to sleep, he quickly and quietly got up and tiptoed out the room, careful not to wake Theo or Luke, his roommates who were both sound asleep. On his way to the stairs, he peeked into the girls' room. Cassie was sleeping by the far wall, as usual, and she managed to kick off her blanket. Kate had curled up to Ali and the two were deeply sleeping, their shoulders rising and falling in unison.

Harry slowly shut the door again and went downstairs, careful to avoid the squeaky step near the bottom so as not to wake the peaceful sleepers.

He sighed as he finally reached the kitchen and closed the door behind him. He always liked checking in on them all in the mornings, they always looked so relaxed and sound when they slept.

He reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of cool apple juice. He noticed they were finally running out of food. Since the haul before Cassie's birthday, he'd only had two other outings and it had been a whole month since then. Pouring himself a small glass, he sat down at the table, put his head in his hands and thought. He always did this, just thought, mainly about the future. He thought about their future. He wanted the best for his family. He'd nicked a few schoolbooks over the years. They could all read and write and, yearly syllabus wise, Harry would guess they were only a year behind where they should be, which wasn't too bad considering they had all gone three years without schooling.

Harry, however, was not behind. To make sure he'd be a good enough teacher for the other kids, he'd read ahead and actually found he understood it all. Though he should've been year six, Harry was probably more around the level of a year nine or ten. He didn't know why, he just picked it up easily.

He was in mid thought about what to do when the time for university came around, when he was suddenly pulled from his head by a tapping on the window. He turned around to see and owl with a letter in its mouth. Harry's jaw dropped. He rubbed his eyes madly but it was still there. He blinked several times but the owl was still there. 'What the heck?' he thought.

Slowly, Harry rose from his chair and walked towards the window. If he'd known any better, he would've said the owl looked impatient but, obviously, he knew better. He yanked open the window and the owl dropped the letter into his hand. Harry's eyes widened in shock, the letter was addressed to him! Not him as in Hal James, but his, Harry James Potter. His surname was Potter.

_'Mr H. J. Potter_

_Boys' Room_

_Abandoned Apartment _

_13a Orion Road _

_Surrey'_

His room. His abandoned apartment. 'What the hell is going on?' was Harry's only thought.

He opened the letter cautiously but nothing could've prepared him for what he read.

_'HOGWARTS SCHOOL_

_of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY _

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31._

_Yours sincerely, _

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress'_

"This isn't real," Harry muttered. He remembered his theory of 'magic' from when he'd been younger but he'd dismissed it. It couldn't be real. However, the owl was still there and, at his comment, she (or he, Harry wasn't sure) gave a loud hoot and pecked his hand. "Argh!" Harry exclaimed, cradling his injured hand. "Don't do that!" he scolded the owl, "You'll wake the others." The owl cocked its head to the right and then pecked at the letter in his hand. "What? You're saying it's real?" he asked. The owl nodded. "But it can't be!" The owl hooted loudly looking a bit… offended?! "Shhhh! You'll wake the others!" he said again.

"Why are you talking to an owl, Hal?"

Harry turned around with the letter still in hand. The damn owl had woken Ali.

"Erm…" he didn't really know how to answer. He wasn't too sure why himself.

Ali grabbed the discarded envelope off the table. "What the hell?" she whispered.

'At least I'm not the only one who thinks that's a weird envelope,' thought Harry.

"Who's this from, Hal?" she asked.

Harry sighed then gave her the letter.

"Do you think it could be real?" he asked.

Ali looked up having finished reading. "This doesn't explain talking to the owl," she said.

"Well…" Harry ran his hand through his already messy hair, "I was saying that it couldn't be real and the bloody thing attacked me." He spun round quickly and pointed at the owl, "Don't you dare do it again." He said.

"Hal," Ali looked at her friend as if he were crazy, "it's just an owl."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the owl was off the windowsill and pecking the girl.

"Argh!" Ali screamed. "Get it off me, get it off me!"

Harry grabbed the bird, ignoring it's thrashing, and placed it back on the windowsill and said, "Stay!" ignoring its look of offence. The bird huffed and turned its head away from them.

"Ok," Ali gasped, "that was weird." She said. Then she looked back to the letter, "I think its waiting for your response, Hal." She said quietly.

They looked back at the owl, who finally looked happy… ish.

"Well what do I say?" Harry asked.

"Erm…" Ali thought, "maybe ask for someone to come to talk to you?"

"Great idea! Thanks Ali," he rummaged around the kitchen for a pen and paper.

_'Dear Ms McGonagall,' _he began writing.

_'Thank you for your letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School. I don't actually know anything of magic so I was wondering if it would be possible for a teacher from the school to come and explain it to me' _"and us!" said Ali, '_and my family?_

_Thank you,_

_Hal James'_

"I don't think you should write that, Hal," said Ali softly.

"Write what?"

"Hal James."

Harry looked back at the letter and grabbed one of the many ink-eradicators they had lying around and got rid of his name before writing, '_Harry James Potter'_.

Harry looked back to the bird, who was still waiting on their windowsill. "Do I just give this to you?" he asked, handing the letter to the bird. The owl snatched the letter in its beak and quickly flew away.

"Did that actually just happen?" Harry asked his best friend in shock.

"I think so…" she whispered, eyes still on the barely visible form of the departed owl.

"Not a word to the others," Harry quickly decided. "Agreed?"

"Agreed," Ali replied, and that was that.

_Later that day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…_

Albus Dumbledore very busy indeed. Preparing for a school year always took a lot of work but this year, this year was special. Harry Potter would be starting Hogwarts this year. Albus had long planned for this.

Under his instructions, Harry had been placed with his aunt the night of Voldemort's 'demise'. Knowing Petunia's hatred of magic, Albus hoped Harry wouldn't really be treated 'like a son' as he'd asked but actually hoped for Harry to be mistreated, but only to the point of him staying humble, timid and easy to manipulate. Albus would use this. He'd already hinted to the Weasleys of Harry's impnding arrival in hopes that young Ronald would befriend Harry on the Express and use this time to push the boy towards Gryffindor. Hagrid would eventually be sent sometime late August to collect young Harry and take him to Diagon Alley, also warning him away from Slytherin. The last thing Albus needed was Harry in Slytherin, he could become dangerous in that house.

Albus wasn't trying to harm the boy, not at all, he just needed to direct Harry down the right path, the path that would lead to the Greater Good. Naturally, it had to be done and probably would, Albus just needed to assure it.

The old man was deep in thought when suddenly one of his wards was set off. It was the one indicating that someone had given the correct password and was on their way up to his office. Just like a muggle spycamera, Albus then saw the project of his long-time colleague climbing the stairs until she reached the door. Then, as always, just as she was about to knock, Albus waved his wand at the door and said, "Come in Minerva!" as it opened to reveal a rather peeved looking professor.

"Would you care for a lemon drop?" he asked her.

"No Albus, I would not," she replied rather snappily. "I would care for an explanation."

"About what matter?" he asked genuinely confused for the first time in a long time. It wasn't a feeling he liked.

"Where is Harry Potter living?" she demanded.

Albus was taken aback by the question, it was not something he was expecting. "In Little Whinging with his Aunt and Uncle of course," he replied but suddenly he wasn't so sure. "You know this Minerva…"

"I thought I did," she snapped at him. "Would you care to explain this then, Albus?" she asked, handing him an envelope.

It was a copy of Harry Potter's acceptance letter envelope. But the address was wrong. "There must be some mistake…" he began but was immediately cut off by Minerva.

"No there is not, he's replied from that address and has not attempted to correct it."

"You've heard from Mr Potter?" Albus sat up straight. Things were wrong here, all wrong.

"Read this," she said as she gave him the letter she'd received a few minutes before.

Albus tried to remain calm. He could work with this. He'd just- wait. Did that envelope say 'abandoned apartment'?! What had happened?

"Why don't we send Hagrid to go see him and take him to Diagon Alley to collect his things?" it was a bit earlier than he'd expected but that wasn't such a big deal.

"Hagrid?" Minerva exclaimed, looking very shocked. "Albus, he asked for a professor to explain our world to him! We cannot send Hagrid!"

Albus slumped slightly, no, he decided, this wasn't good at all. "Perhaps you could…"

"I have work to do," she said, "that is why I am already here Albus. I am Deputy Headmistress after all."

Albus sighed, she was right. "Who would you suggest?"

"Severus of course," she said.

Albus nearly fell of his chair. It was taking a lot of effort to remain calm now. "Severus?" he asked.

"Yes," said Minerva, looking over her friend carefully, "he has not yet returned to the castle and Spinner's End is very nearby Orion Road."

'No, no, no!' thought Albus, desperately trying to find a way around this. 'Severus must not meet Harry until after he's been sorted into Gryffindor! This is all going wrong!'

"Are you sure that's a wise idea?" he asked. "What with Severus's problems with James…"

"I think it is quite necessary," Minerva spoke authoritatively, something she could never do usually when speaking to Albus. "Severus must realise that he cannot hold his grudge with James over Harry. Besides, it would be unreasonable to send anyone else when Severus is barely a five minute walk away."

Albus sighed, "Well I'll ask Severus then…"

"No need," said Minerva. "I spoke with him earlier, he should be flooing to my office…" she looked at her watch, "any minute now. I shall go meet him."

"Oh," said Albus. "Thank you Minerva."

"Goodbye Albus, see you later," she called as she left his office.

The door shut behind her.

Albus was left in a dazed state. How had he lost control of everything so quickly? This could be a huge problem. 'No!' Albus thought, 'I can fix this!' and he was soon back to work.

Minerva entered her office feeling very confused. Albus had seemed very… off when she told him the situation about Mr Potter… or should she say Mr James? That was something she'd failed to mention to Albus, after seeing his reaction to the news, she thought it might be for the best. The copy of the letter she'd given the Headmaster was one she copied before adjusting the abnormality of the letter. After noticing a change in ink on Harry's name, she cast a few ink eradicating and separation spells she used when marking essays and found that he'd originally signed the letter 'Hal James'. She didn't know why, but now was not the time to wonder. She would give the letter to Severus without Harry's correction. He would meet Hal James instead of Harry Potter. Yes, it was for the best.

The floo flared and Severus Snape stepped into her office. Dressed in his usual slacks and black polo under his dark blue, almost black, robe, he looked just like he did during school year minus the grease in his hair that he got from spending excessive amounts of time with the chemicals in the potions lab.

"Minerva," he nodded politely.

"Severus," she returned. "I was hoping you could do a muggleborn run for us?"

Severus looked confused, he was never normally asked to meet muggleborns. "How so?" he asked.

"Orion Road," she said, "this is near to your home, isn't it?"

"It is."

"13a Orion Road is the home I'd like you to visit."

13a… Severus thought for a moment. "There must be some mistake, Minerva," he said. "That apartment has been abandoned for years."

"Well apparently that is not exactly true," she handed him an envelope, Harry's envelope but she'd adjusted it so it was to '_Mr H. James_'.

"H. James," he read.

"His name is Hal James," Minerva clarified, "and he has written asking for a professor to come and explain our world to him and his family." Here she gave him Harry's letter.

"I see," Severus said.

Minerva sighed, nothing was ever easy with Severus. "Seeing as Pomona and Filius are visiting other muggleborns, Albus and I are working and you live so close, I was hoping you could take care of this one."

Severus looked at her sceptically, there was something here he was missing of that he was sure, but he could think of what it could be. "I'll do it," he said after some moments. "But only because I have nothing better to do right now and I'm in need of a visit to Diagon Alley anyway."

"Thank you Severus," Minerva smiled, she hoped this would go well enough.

"You're so welcome," he drawled before getting back in the fireplace and shouting "Spinner's End," as he threw down the floo powder.

Minerva collapsed into her chair. All of that had taken far too much energy.

"I think we need more stuff Hal," Luke said taking a look into the fridge. They'd made it through breakfast with a simple berry salad but lunch was turning out to be a bit trickier.

As Luke turned around to stop Cassie and Theo moments before they'd jump the other and start wrestling, Ali nudged Harry and whispered, "We'll need something to offer the teacher."

Harry nodded, "Anyone got any issues with me going now?"

No one did. Harry grabbed his worn out rucksack and was off for a new haul.

His first target was the corner shop; sweets, crisps, drinks and snack bars. His trick was to keep an eye on the Indian shopkeeper, he was to only staff the small shop had. Every time the man looked at the cash register, quite often as it was a popular shop, Harry would lean towards the shelves while facing in an opposite direction and his hand would swipe at the shelf and grab something. The cameras never picked up on anything. He knew this was the easiest place to nick from so he always tried to get as much as possible. Harry would then buy a cheap pack of gum as a cover up for being in the store. Today Harry walked away with a jumbo packet of ready salted crisps, two Dairy Milk chocolate bars, one extra large cartons of milk, several random snack bars and some Haribos.

Next up was the supermarket. Harry was wary of the staff here, there were a lot of them. All the same, he managed to get three packets of chocolate chip cookies, a loaf of bread, a packet of cheese slices, a small box of butter and a box of berries.

After this came the local market. Harry would always go up and start casually filling bags then, when the shopkeepers were distracted by something, he would put each bag in his rucksack and move on. Whether these distractions were other customers or plastic bags that Harry would throw in their faces while they looked away didn't matter. What mattered was that he didn't get caught. Ever. Today Harry managed to grab some apples, pears, oranges and even some grapefruit.

Thinking about his haul, Harry wasn't sure why but he realised he'd gone all out this time. Hadn't missed or skipped a single thing. They had all the necessities to last them a month if they rationed it right. It had been Kate, that morning that had pushed him into going over the top. He'd been trying to convince her that having a bath was a good thing when he realised just how skinny she really was. When not covered by her hand-me-downs from Ali then Cassie, she was basically just skin and bones. He could count her ribs. He could see every vein. Of course, they were all like that, him especially as he hated taking food from the others, but seeing her, only six years old, tiny as she was, he could've sworn his heart broke.

He hurried back, wanting to feed the kids as soon as possible.

"That was quick!" Ali exclaimed as he came hurtling through their 'door'.

"What can I say? Didn't want to get caught!" he said heading to the kitchen.

"You never get caught Hal!" Ali followed him. "What's up, Harry?" she asked softly as she saw him hurriedly putting the food away. Harry stopped and put his hands on the counter to steady himself. Of course she could tell something was wrong, she always could. Harry knew she'd really noticed because she called him Harry. She only ever called him Harry when something was wrong.

"This whole school thing," he mumbled, "I can't go. I can't leave all of you."

"Harry…"

"It won't work, you all need me here," he said turning around. "How else are you going to get food, clothes, anything?" he looked up at her, eyes beginning to fill with tears. "I have to protect you, Alexia, I promise."

Ali hugged him tight. "You have protected us Harry, you always have and I'm sure you always will, but this is something you need to do."

"We'll see," Harry muttered, pulling away from the hug and putting away the milk.

Severus Snape stood outside 13a Orion Road. The place looked completely abandoned, there was no way a family could live there. Nevertheless, Minerva insisted.

He walked up to the door, noting the wooden planks nailing it shut, and knocked.

Nothing. He heard nothing.

He knocked again.

For a moment, he thought about giving up but then, there was a sudden squeak. It was a rather loud squeak too, followed by a series of 'shh'ing.

'So its not abandoned,' he thought.

He pulled out his wand, "_Audiam_," he said as he flicked it at the door.

"Hal?" he heard, it sounded like the voice of a young boy, maybe nine or ten years old.

"I think someone's at the door," came another whisper, this time a girl who was younger than the first boy but it couldn't have been by much.

"No shit, Cass!" came the first voice again.

"No need to attack me I was just saying…" muttered the girl.

"Would you two quit already and keep quiet?" came the strained whisper of an older boy. 'Hal perhaps?' Severus wondered.

"It's alright guys," came a fourth voice, an older boy, this had to be Hal. "Who's there?" the voice was coming from right next to the door.

"Severus Snape, Potions professor at Hogwarts," he announced himself, wondering just what kind of household this was.

"Mr Snape, please can you walk around the house and come through the kitchen door?"

To say that Severus was shocked would be a huge under statement. What kind of family was this? Suddenly Severus saw a flash from the shutters beside him but as soon as he looked, they fluttered back into place.

"Hal are you sure you want to let this guy in?" came the first voice again. "He looks like an over grown bat!"

Severus growl out the cancelling spell at the door before stalking around the house until he reached a discoloured door. A few clicks of the lock and the door swung open to reveal a familiar skinny kid with unruly black hair and bright green eyes looking up at him suspiciously. "Mr Snape?" he checked.

"Hal James?" was Severus's response. The boy's eyes widened for a moment before he nodded and moved out of his way to allow Severus into the kitchen. As Hal was busy locking the door Severus looked around and saw that, in the kitchen, were five other, equally familiar, kids.

"Guys," Hal addressed them a bit uncertainly, "This is Mr Snape, he a teacher at a school I've been accepted to."

Nothing could've prepared Severus for what happened next.

"A school?"

"A teacher?"

"Hal, you're leaving us?"

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Severus stood there rather awkwardly for a moment as wild looks, shocked gasps and a glare or two were thrown. He cleared his throat, reminding him of his presence. "Where are Mr and Mrs James?" he asked.

They all looked shocked, apart from Hal and the girl he assumed to be the oldest female.

"They'll be here soon," said Hal after a moment pretending not to see the surprised looks on the others' faces. Severus, however, didn't miss them. He knew something was off here and he was starting to guess what it was.

"I see," was all he said.

"Would you like something to eat or drink mister?" asked the older looking girl, as if trying to change the subject.

"What do you have?" he asked, not really sure how to view the situation at that moment.

"We have cookies, some fruit, coke or milk?" she said timidly.

The others kept silent. All eyes were on Severus.

"A cookie would be nice," he replied. Honestly, he didn't really want the cookie but he felt bad refusing the offer.

A few moments passed. The children fidgeted under Severus's intense gaze before finally… "I'm Hal James, nice to meet you Mr Snape."

Severus took his hand a bit hesitantly. It had been a while before he'd used such a muggle custom. "It's Professor Snape actually," he corrected the boy. Hal flinched. Severus instantly regretted it, perhaps he'd been a bit harsh with the boy… 'What?' he thought suddenly. Since when had he ever though of himself as too harsh?

Severus looked around the room, his eyes pausing on each child, taking in their skinniness, shabby clothing and lack of healthy glow. He then looked around the dark, dank room before turning back to Hal.

"Will you introduce me to your siblings?" Severus asked casually, not sure how to handle the situation. It was now obviously to his that there was no Mr, nor a Mrs, James. These were orphans. Looking at them all he realised that they all looked too different to actually be related and he wondered why he hadn't realised it sooner.

"Oh, of course," Hal stumbled a bit. "This is Lucas," he pointed to the blond boy with eyes of a strange golden brown swirl, "Theodore," he gestured to the other boy with brown curly hair and hazel eyes. Severus sent his coldest glare to him, this was the boy who had called him an over grown bat and Severus wasn't the kind to forgive and forget. He did, however, take a bit of pleasure in noting the boy's sudden discomfort. "This is Cassidy," the young girl with slightly darker skin, dark brown hair and brown eyes smiled at him. This girl could not in a million years have actually been related to the other children. Her looks were more Italian or Spanish than the other paler children who's looks simply scream 'British!'. "Kate" the youngest girl who was missing two front teeth gave his a big smile and cheery little wave, Severus originally assumed she couldn't possibly be older than five but considering their conditions now, he imagined she was probably six maybe even seven. Severus nearly laughed when he saw her, she could've easily been another child of his friend Lucius had her eyes been a bit more grey than blue. There was something familiar about this girl too, as there was about Hal, Severus just couldn't put his finger on why… "And this is Alexia." Hal finished by gesturing to the older girl who was now coming back with a plate of chocolate chip cookies. She had light brown hair and bright blue eyes, almost similar to the intensity of the green of Hal's. The green that was so alike… No! Severus shoved that thought to the back of his mind faster than even saying her name.

"It is nice to meet you all," he said quickly before turning back to Hal. "May I sit somewhere? I've had a bit of a long day already."

"Oh," Hal said, looking sheepish for forgetting. "The living room is just this way."

The boy led Severus into a small room with a bare fireplace. There was an old sofa and two large armchairs. Severus shook his head. Six children living alone in this house was not good for them. He took the armchair closest to the fireplace and watched as the children piled in. Hal took the other armchair and pulled little Kate next to him. It wasn't much of a squeeze for the two considering how skinny they were. The two other boys, Theodore and Lucas, sat on the couch and Severus noted how Lucas seemed particularly insistent that he sit between Cassidy and Theodore. Severus remembered hearing the two bicker from the other side of the door and got a basic idea of why. The last girl, Alexia, Severus remembered, finally joined them, pulling in a wood chair from the kitchen and placed the plate of chocolate chip cookies on the little wooden stool that served as a table.

"I'm assuming you want them all to know?" he asked Hal, figuring it was time to get down to business.

"Naturally," the boy shrugged. "They're family." He grinned ruffling the little girl's hair.

"In that case," Severus swiftly began. "Let's begin."

**Thanks to ****_geetac_****, ****_917brat _****and ****_AbbyRose24 _****for reviewing, I hope this chapter was good enough!**

**Thanks also to everyone who has favourited and followed this story already. It really made my day to see how many people liked it!**

**I hope you all like this chapter, thanks for reading!**

**Please review and let me know what you think! Alexia will give a chocolate chip cookie to all reviewers ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**FAMILY STICKS TOGETHER: CHAPTER 3**

To say that they were in shock would be the understatement of the century.

Hal was staring at a spot on the wall trying to process what he'd just heard.

Alexia was looking down at her lap, eyebrow furrowed as she thought deeply about whether or not she thought he was telling the truth about magic.

Lucas was looking at Severus as though he was some lunatic, not believing a word of it.

Theodore had dropped his cookie and was staring at Severus, jaw hanging as though it had been dislocated.

Cassidy had stopped wriggling on the couch and was imagining the possibilities in life with magic.

Young Kate was just sitting there, looking at the rest of her family, wondering why the strange man telling them about magic had made them so quiet.

Severus could tell that they all wanted to believe it all, but it probably seemed too good to be true. That was the problem. Severus had never done a muggleborn pick up before but he had, however, had some experience with explaining the magical world and dealing with reactions to it. He had, after all, explained it all to Lily once upon a time. He could tell that these kids had been living on bare minimum for three years or so and it would've been a long time since they'd ever had a birthday wish come true or an unbelievable toy they'd always wanted. The idea of magic would up there in that category of wonderful things that would never, or should never, happen to them. The fact that it shouldn't exist in their world and was only meant to be in stories and fairy tales was another reason why they couldn't comprehend it.

Severus watched the children. It was obvious that they weren't taking the news too well at all. He sighed; they were probably going to need proof.

"Miss James?" he turned to Kate hoping that winning her over would help the other children to follow. "What is your favourite colour?" he couldn't believe he was doing this. He hated children. Full stop. Yet here he was, asking a little girl what her favourite colour was. He wished he could leave now but there was something about these children that was different. He felt he had to stay.

Kate thought for a few moments, humming softly as she cocked her head to the side. "Green!" she decided finally. "Like Hal's eyes!"

Severus hesitated for a moment before looking at the boy's eyes, something he'd been trying to avoid. He couldn't help but think of Lily as he did, they were so alike her eyes. Nevertheless, he looked at them, took it the forest green swirl over the bright emerald green, keeping a strong hold on his emotions. Once he was certain he had the right colour in mind, he pulled out his wand and pointed it at the dirty grey wall by the fireplace. "_Scourgify_!" he said first to clean it off. "_Color cambire_," he said clearly, thinking hard about that green colour. The children gasped as the wall rapidly changed from the old dank grey to a bright emerald green with forest coloured swirls here and there. Said swirls were even moving. Some pulsed, other were spinning, some spread into other or grew before splitting off into smaller ones. They all sighed; it was amazing. It was magic.

Harry blinked owlishly. The man had said one word, pointed his stick thing (which Harry assumed was a wand), and suddenly the wall was clean. Harry could now see that the wall was meant to be a pale blue rather than the ugly grey they'd always seen. But Professor Snape wasn't done, it seemed. He waved his wand and said "color camberay" (or something similar) and a bright emerald green colour seemed to sink into the wall and quickly spread. Harry gasped as he saw a pattern appear on it. The pattern was moving! Harry couldn't believe his eyes.

"Magic," he heard Ali sigh.

"Woah, awesome!" Theo laughed.

Little Kate clapped and laughed.

"Is it normal for us to have performed magic before now?" Harry couldn't resist asking, eyes still locked on the wall.

"Yes, most definitely," Professor Snape replied. "It's called accidental magic. Often happens before a child has received their wand and is feeling an extreme emotion of some sort. Why do you ask?"

Harry wondered for a moment whether or not it would be right to mention their little 'incidents' but figured it could do no harm to ask. Especially if it turned out that his siblings had magic too.

"Cassie, as a baby, broke windows when she cried. When she came to the or-" Harry quickly stopped himself from saying orphanage and moved on before it was too noticeable. "School that Ali and I were at, we saw her getting bullied and we shouted at them to leave her alone, we both felt a surge of energy and the bullies were suddenly blasted into a wall and knocked out. Theo and I once jumped out of a fifth floor window but Theo somehow managed to stop us from hitting the ground and we floated a metre above it. Luke threw his body over Kate in a car crash and they both survived without a scratch while the other occupants of the car didn't." Harry saw Luke wince. He felt really bad for bringing it up but felt it was important for him to do so. He gulped at looked at Luke who gave him a small nod to show he was ok before turning his attention to the wall as a distraction. "And when Kate was three she managed to make her paper aeroplane actually fly and do turns and loops and things, but without throwing it." Kate's smile widened at the mention of the paper aeroplane, it had been a favourite of hers for a very long time.

Severus listened intently to the boy before he nodded. Those definitely seemed like examples of accidental magic though some of them definitely had him wondering about the backgrounds of these children. Like the notion of a car crash or jumping out of a fifth floor window. He closed his eyes, centred his mind and when he reopened them his eyes were attacked by the many bright colours now visible to them.

Severus had a Seers Gift, one he kept to himself. He could see auras. He rarely used it but decided to then to check whether the boy's suspicions of the other children having magic were true.

First he saw Cassidy who was surrounded by a glowing orange aura. Severus had never bothered with learning what the colours meant but knew enough to know that orange was optimistic at least. Looking a bit closer, he saw what he was looking for: a shimmering violet line surrounding her aura proclaiming her a witch.

Beside Cassidy was Lucas, who was surrounded by a mix of blues. Severus recognised royal blue as a positive but was almost certain that the heaviness of the navy colour was not. Lucas, too, had the violet trimming on his aura.

Next came Theodore, whose aura was a reassuring red-orange colour, also lined with violet.

Severus then looked at Alexia whose aura was a light turquoise, which went rather nicely with the violet surrounding it.

It was the youngest girl's aura, however, which really caught his attention. Kate was surrounded by a white light, showing her character was still innocent and pure and her aura had yet to be properly decided. Severus then saw the small pulsing green lights. Green was a colour he basically knew. All greens were based around love. Lily's aura had been bright emerald like her eyes and Severus was almost certain he saw that same emerald beginning to form for this little girl. Aside from all that, Severus didn't fail to not that she did have the bright violet shining around her aura, marking her as magical.

Finally, Severus looked towards Hal. His eyes went wide when he saw the boy's aura. He'd been wondering if this boy's aura would take on a green like his eyes, it wouldn't be surprising considering how much he seemed to care for his 'family' but was thoroughly shocked to see the deep red glowing around the boy. Severus may not know much about his Gift but he knew that red, deep red, was a strong and powerful colour. That, combined with the thick line of violet that he saw, marked this boy as powerful. Severus knew at once that this would be a boy to watch out for in the future.

He blinked hard, cancelling his Gift, before looking back at them. They were confused again. "I can see auras, I do not wish to explain them but perhaps you may know of in the future," he said. "I can tell you that you are all definitely magical."

The smiles lit up on their faces as they looked at each other with joy suddenly bubbling with excitement, all talking at once. Severus leaned back. He'd never seen such happiness in children. His snakes were trained to hide their emotions in public so such displays were foreign to him. He didn't like it at all.

"Stop that at once," he snarled out. The affect was instant.

The children now sat in silence with their heads bowed. They didn't know what they'd done wrong but they knew better than to get on an adult's bad side.

"Sorry sir," it was Hal who spoke up.

Severus looked at the children. He was pleased that they'd obeyed and immediately shut up but at the same time he felt a bit bad for putting a damper on their excitement.

No, that was wrong.

He shouldn't be feeling bad at all. They were just measly children, probably Gryffindors too by the looks of it. He glared at the oldest boy, suddenly feeling the need to take out his confusion on someone.

"Where did you say your parents were?" he asked with narrowed eyes. He knew the answer but felt the need to finally clear it up and didn't feel in the mood to be nice about it. Severus was rather surprised to see that the boy did not falter under his intense glare.

"Out," was all that the boy would say, glaring right back at him.

"When will they be back?" Severus asked coldly.

"I don't know," the boy replied with a level glare. "What business is it of yours?"

Severus actually laughed at this. "I cannot take you for your supplies without parental permission and they have yet to confirm if you will be attending."

That must have had an impact because Hal was silent, they all were. Severus wondered if he should've taken a different approach to the subject of their 'parents' but knew now was too late. The boy should get used to this side of him anyway as he would most likely see it plenty at Hogwarts.

"What's the point in asking me where they are?" he snarled suddenly. "You already know the answer, so why ask?" the boy's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

The silence in the room spoke louder than a thousand words. The tension was rising. The six children's eyes remained on Severus, sending what may have been some of the coldest glares they could muster. For the first time in a very long time, Severus really wanted to apologise to a child. Six children even. It was obvious these children had nothing and Severus attacking them like that was cruel. They may even have had worse childhoods than Severus, and that was obviously saying something.

That was when something clicked in his mind.

"I know now why I recognise you," he said quietly, shocking all the children with his sudden change of topic and tone, though their glares still remained. "Must've been two and a half years or so ago that you came knocking on my door because that little girl," he pointed at Kate, "was sick."

He looked at Hal. He was silent. Waiting for a response.

Harry's glare faltered for a moment and he looked at the man curiously. He hadn't thought the man remembered seeing as he hadn't mentioned it yet.

It was during their winter after they'd first found the apartment. The market was shut and stocks low at the supermarket. They had basically nothing and were all near starving and freezing. Then came the worst part. Kate had come down with the flu. With no medical supplies, a broken oven leading to no hot water and not being able to go to a hospital seeing as they were runaway orphans, the kids had been forced to knock on doors asking for help. Almost every single house was empty due to families on holiday or going out. Any doors that did open were shut in their faces as shouted, calling the children beggars and thieves. Harry had gone all the way down Spinner's End with little Kate and finally someone actually looked at the sickly four year old, let them in and treated her. Though he called himself 'a doctor of sorts', none of them recognised any of the medicine he gave Kate, various liquids of different colours and such. They did not question him, they didn't even wonder for a moment if it could've been a scam. He gave her at least four and helped her drink them before escorting them back to the junction on Orion Road from where they insisted on walking alone.

"You're the man who saved Kate," Harry whispered. The others gasped and looked at the man with new eyes.

I remember you telling me your parents were out of town. I'm not too sure why I believed that anyone would leave an eight year old and a three year old alone," Professor Snape said, it was a statement, not a question.

"She was four," Harry mumbled, knowing she probably looked a lot younger due to the lack of food.

Professor Snape stared at Harry, disbelief written all over his face. Harry looked down, wringing his hands feeling awful. He knew what the professor was thinking. He was adding up the numbers and looking over Kate. Harry knew his little girl could still pass as four, though she barely did back then. He blamed himself. If only he was able to get more food and provide more for them.

"How old are you all?" the professor asked them in a much kinder voice, his expression now much softer. Harry knew that the man was now able to work it all out.

"Luke and I are ten like Hal, Theo is nine, Cassie is eight and Kate is five," it was Ali who answered, she too was definitely a lot quieter than normal. Harry looked around and finally noticed that they all were.

"Do you know your birthdays?"

Harry nodded sadly at the others. They all realised they would give up hiding the fact that they really were orphans. Even Kate by now knew that this man understood that they didn't have parents and they weren't really related.

"Mine is somewhere in either July or August," Harry replied first. Severus raised an eyebrow, urging him to explain. "I was left at the orphanage by my Aunt and Uncle when I was five. I knew I was younger than my cousin but still in the same school year as him. Dudley's birthday was in June so that left me somewhere in July or August 1980. My relatives never celebrated it or even told me when it was so that's all I know," he shrugged. Harry could've sworn he saw some spark of recognition in the man's eyes when he mentioned Dudley's name but neither dwelled on it.

"January 11th 1981," said Ali, interrupting the moment. "And before you ask, yes I'm sure."

"April 9th 1981," said Luke. "And I have more reason to be sure than Ali. I celebrated my first eight birthdays with my parents."

"I'm September 30th 1981," said Theo proudly. "Though I only knew that from finding my birth certificate when I was five. My dad was a drug addict and my mum died when I was born. Dad barely remembered my name, didn't expect him to remember my birthday," he shrugged nonchalantly as if the subject was as fickle as talking about pumpkin types.

"My birthday is between the 10th and 13th of June 1983," said Cassie. "I was left on the orphanage doorstep on the night of the 13th and they guessed the 12th but said it could've been any of the days after the 10th."

"My birthday 26th November," Kate smiled. "1986…?" she looked up at Harry trying to figure out if she'd gotten the right year.

"Actually it's '85 Kit Kat," Hal ruffled her hair affectionately as the little girl said, "Oops!" before snuggling into Hal.

Professor Snape looked a bit taken aback. Harry understood, they were extremely mature for their ages but that did come with the circumstances.

The man stood up from his chair and said, "How about we go and buy your school supplies, Hal?"

Harry was a bit surprised to be called Hal by the man, as he'd called Kate 'Miss James' but figured it was because there would otherwise be three 'Mr James's and there 'Miss James's. "Can the others come?" he asked.

"Of course," he said. The children cheered. "And please get any stuff you may have here because you won't be coming back."

No.

The word echoed in Harry's mind. No. No. NO.

Looks of horror and disgust appeared on his siblings' faces too.

"You can't turn us in!" Luke shouted angrily, putting his arms protectively around Cassie and Theo.

Harry and Ali glared at the man.

Professor Snape winced. "I don't plan on turning you in. I obviously can't let you live in this place alone now, so you're all coming to stay with me until we figure out what to do with you."

More staring. They'd been doing that a lot today, Harry realised. The first movement was Kate. She ran up to the professor and hugged him. Of course, the little girl only came up to his waist, so she hugged his leg but the gesture was the same. Harry nearly laughed, the man looked appalled at being hugged. Probably not something he was used to. He seemed very unsure of how to react but he eventually settled for gently patting her head until he was bombarded by a double hug attack from Cassie and Theo. Ali, Luke and Hal stood a bit further away, they didn't try to hug him as they could sense his discomfort, but they did smile, this man was going to help them.

"Well go on," the professor finally pushed the younger three off him gently, "Go get your things," he told them. "I'll just wait here."

…FamilySticksTogether…

The group walked down Spinner's End together. Cassie and Theo were up front, trying to annoy Severus (he'd actually asked them to call him that since they'd be living with him), Ali and Luke were in the middle talking in hushed tones and Hal was bringing up the rear with Kate holding on to his hand tightly.

"Are we not coming back, Hal?" Kate asked.

"No, Katie, we're not," Harry replied. "We're going to stay with Severus."

Even though it was the fiftieth time he'd gone over that thought, Harry still felt a wave of relief pass over him again. The kids would finally be able to live proper lives and he wouldn't have to nick food and supplies anymore. If one of them was sick, Severus could give them a drink thing like he had those years ago with Kate. They could all use the Hogwarts bursary funds to attend school.

"I don't think he likes children," his thoughts were interrupted by Kate's sudden observation.

Harry looked over at Severus. Well, he definitely looked rather uncomfortable with Cassie and Theo all over him. He definitely didn't seem as used to children as Harry would've thought a teacher to be. But that was probably just his personality.

"I'm sure that's not true, Kit," he said, squeezing her hand. "Just give him a chance to get used to us."

They finally reached Severus's house. As soon as it was unlocked, Cassie and Theo ran inside.

"Get back here, brats!" Severus shouted, stalking after them.

To others, Harry guessed Severus must be intimidating. But from what Harry had seen, Severus had a nicer side and he was sure that he'd eventually warm up to the kids.

"We won't be staying long," Severus was saying. "We need to get to Diagon Alley."

"But what will we pay with?" Harry asked. "We don't have any money."

"That'll be sorted by a quick trip to Gringotts," Severus said. He was about to walk into another room when he suddenly stopped. "Your names," he said. "Do you all know your real names?"

Luke, Theo, and Ali nodded. Cassie looked down at her shoes sadly. Kate looked up at Luke, question in her eyes. He nodded at her. Harry didn't do anything. He wasn't sure whether Severus knew that his name was Harry James Potter, seeing as he'd addressed him as Hal James.

"Well?" Severus prompted.

"Theodore Damien Casey," said Theo.

"I'm Lucas Connor Tamlyn and Kate's real name is Kate Isabelle Cameron," said Luke. "Actually Kate real name might be Katherine…"

Severus nodded.

"My name is Alexia Freya Hastings," said Ali. "Is there any way we can find out if Kate is Kate or Katherine?"

"Yes, Gringotts can help us confirm," said Severus, turning to Cassie.

"My name is Cassidy," she said. "That's all I know."

Finally, Severus looked at Harry.

"Don't you already know my name?" he asked cautiously. "The school sent me my letter with my real name on it."

Severus's eyes widened as he adopted a confused expression. This was obviously news to him.

"Your letter was addressed to 'Mr H. James'," he said.

Harry looked curiously at Severus, wondering what was going on. "No it wasn't," he said. "It was addressed to 'Mr H. J. Potter'. My real name I suppose. Harry James Potter."

…FamilySticksTogether…

**Thanks for reading, I hope you like it! Sorry it's a bit shorter but my dad was in a car accident on Monday so I've got quite a lot going on at home right now…**

**To all those wonderful people who reviewed…**

**geetac : I'm glad you've enjoyed it! I hope you like this chapter too! **

**Dark Neko 4000 : Sorry I can't give it all away yet! Here is his reaction to their lifestyle. I know we didn't see that part from his point of view but we will soon but in a (hopefully) unexpected way. Seeing his reaction to Hal being Harry will come soon. Hope you've liked this chapter and continue to read it!**

**Mason : I'm so glad you like it! I actually started writing it just because I wanted to read something like it but couldn't find anything. I hope it's good enough for you! I also really like seeing Hal like this and he will continue to act like it even though they now have Severus sort of looking after them. Thank you so much for your review and I hope you like this chapter!**

**laurencracefan : Here is part of Hal's 'going to school' problem solved but it's not exactly perfect yet, I intend to make things a little bit harder before they find the solution. Gringotts will most definitely be an eye-opener. Sorry I've taken a bit longer to update but I hope you've enjoyed the chapter nonetheless!**

**917brat : I'm so happy you like it! Thank you, I hope you continue to enjoy reading it!**

**Deliliah and Nathan : Yes I had a bit of a problem with the ages… If you look back, you'll see it's actually Kate, not Cassie, who was referred to possibly being age six. I had meant for Kate to be six but ended up mixing the years so saying she was three after the fire at Callum House means she's actually five now turning six in November. Thank you for pointing this out, I would've hated realising it too late! Hope you still like it!**

**ramen-luver101 : Haha yes he is!**

**glitch-e-r-749 : I'm so glad you liked it! Sorry this chapter took me a bit longer…**

**Nanettez : One thing I want to show in this story is the other side to Slytherin. Slytherin's are not selfish. They are cunning, ambition and sly to name a few but they don't have to be selfish. There will always be some selfish/bad people in all and any house. Also I'm still not sure about Hal in Slytherin but that's my goal.**

**Ariz0na-Sky : I'm so happy you liked it!**

**Thank you all for reviewing!**

**A/N: My plan is now to update once a week on Wednesdays or Thursdays depending on other stuff going on. Hope this is ok for you all. Also I'm so so sorry but I have camp next week so I won't be able to update then but hopefully I'll get chapter 4 up this weekend before I go or Wednesday/Thursday in two weeks once I'm back.**

**Until then… Theo will by a chocolate frog from Diagon Alley for everyone who reviews ;)**


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